The Bar has called for more funding for the criminal justice system in the wake of a report into the collapse of several rape and sexual assault trials.
The House of Commons Justice Committee criticised the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) last week for ‘insufficient focus and leadership’ and failing to recognise the extent and seriousness of disclosure errors. Its report, Disclosure of evidence in criminal cases, highlighted failings in the way police and prosecutors apply disclosure rules but did not recommend any rule changes.
DPP Alison Saunders, along with the National Police Chiefs Council, said: ‘Extensive action has been underway over the past year to bring about the necessary change not just in how cases are handled, but in the wider culture within the CPS and policing.’
However, Bar chair Andrew Walker QC said: ‘The impact of dramatic cuts in funding for criminal justice cannot be ignored.
‘The increasing volume of digital material has clearly created new challenges for the CPS and the police, but it is wholly unrealistic to expect them to meet those challenges without sufficient funding. The government have to accept that there is a clear link between disclosure failures and the sustained budget cuts that it has imposed on all parts of the criminal justice system.’
Walker said the CPS staff budget fell from £738m in 2010–11 to £291m in 2015–16, a cut of more than 60%. Meanwhile, prosecution and defence barristers had borne a large part of the fallout, routinely scouring ‘reams of unused material for evidence’ with no remuneration for doing so.
The Justice Committee report will feed into a wider review of disclosure by the Attorney General.
